Laundry-tag machine.



E. cmuc.

LAUNDRY TAG MACHINE.

I v APPLICATION FILED NOV ZZ I909. L155A69; I Patented 00t.5,1915.-

3 SHEETS-SHEET I.

E. CRAIG.

LAUNDRY TAG MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 22. 1909.

1,155.4. Patented Oct. 5,1915.

3 SHEETS$H,EET 2.

E. CRAIG.

LAUNDRY TAG MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 22. 1909.

1,155,469.. Patented Oct. 5,1915.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

' ting device.

are rn rip.

EDWARD CRAIG, OF ST. JOSEPH, MIGHIGAN, ASSIGNOR T0 SARANAC MACHINE 00., OF

ST. JOSEPH, MICHIGAN, A CORPORATION OF MICHIGAN.

LAUNDRY-TAG MACHINE.

Application filed November 22, 1909. Serial No. 529,472.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDWARD CRAIG, a citizen of the United States of America, and resident of St. Joseph, Berrien county, Michigan, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Laundry-TagMachines, of which the following is a spec1fication.

My invention contemplates a machine for applying laundry tags to articles of wearing apparel.

.Heretofore, laundry tags have been applied by hand, in various ways. This method of marking the clothing and other articles by hand was slow and not satisfactory. With my invention, however, the tags, of cloth or other suitable material, are applied rapidly and securely, by a machine that cuts each tag from a strip of cloth and then staples the ends thereof to the clothing or other articles. In this way the marking of articles for the laundry is greatly facilitated.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a side elevation of a laundry tag machine embodying the principles of my invention. Fig. 2 is a front elevation of the upper portion of said machine. Fig. 3 is an enlarged horizontal section on line 3-3 in Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is an enlarged detail sectional view, on line 4-4 in Fig. 2, of the stapling and cut- Fig. 5 is a front elevation of the stapling mechanism shown in Fig. 4.

Fig. 6 is a perspective of the movable ele- I ment or lever ofthe cutting mechanism. Fig. 7 shows a laundry tag applied to the cloth of the article to be laundried. Fig. 8 is a side elevation of the locking device for the feed mechanism. Fig. 9 is a detail" section on line 99 in Fig. 8.

As thus illustrated, my invention comprises an upright standard or body A, provided with a horizontal arm or support a at the upper end thereof. This support has its outer end provided with movable members a in the upper end of which are thespring-supported anvils or clench blocks 11 These members a have their lower ends provided with rollsa A lever a is pivoted on the body A and provided with portions which enga e the rolls (i The said lever is provided wlth a roll a A rod B extends vertically in the body A, and is provided with a cam 12 for engaging the roll a. and thereby operating the lever a to elevate the Specification of Letters Patent.

-Patenteel Got. 5,1915.

rod B. The strip of cloth D is fed from a roll (1 to the feed rolls cl and d, and from the latter to the tube 05 This tube is disposed in position to feed the ribbon of cloth D across the tops of the anvils a, from one anvil to the other. It will be seen that the said anvils are disposed in a row in the direction of feed of the ribbon D.

A stapling mechanism E is arranged over one anvil a and a similar mechanism F is arranged over the other anvil. These stapling mechanisms are of any suitable character, and are operated by the head G on the upper end of the rod B. The said mechanisms are arranged to drive the staples c crosswise of the tag C. See Fig. 7 The tween this portion and the upper portion i The portion 2' may have an edge that acts in conjunction with the knife H to sever the cloth at the proper time. This lever T has its rear end i pivoted to the lower end of the vertically disposed rod J. This rod is held in a bearing 7', and has its upper end provided with avertical slot 7". The downward motion of the rod J is limited by a lugj thereon that engages the bearing 7'. A lug .73 on the head G works up and down in the slot y". This lug moves downward in the slot 7", without moving the rod J, until the shoulder 7' is reached, when the rod moves down to actuate the cutting mechanism Thus the staples are driven and then the attached portion of the cloth D is out ed by the upward movement of'the portion a of the lever I. The stationary head K of the machine carries a shaft is upon which the feed roll 03' is mounted. This shaft has its other end provided with a bevel gear is This shaft 70 has a ratchet wheel k operated by a pawl 10 pivoted on the head G.

meshing with a bevel gear 12 on the shaft 76*.

staples, are mounted on this shaft is.

material to which it is to be secured.

at the proper time the cam member M The feed rolls is, for feeding wire L to ltlple e rolls la coiiperate with said rolls 70 to feed the wire in the usual and well known manner. Thus one ratchet mechanism is operative to feed the cloth'D and the wires L. It will be seen that. the said' wires are fed parallel in a direction at right angles to the strip of cloth D. The rolls d and al are geared together by the gears 72 and 70.

In operation, the cloth of the clothing or other article is laid on the anvils a and' then raised by actuation of the foot lever I). This also serves to drive the two staples e, and to cut off the attached length of cloth D. The wires L are also fed forward by the same downward movement of the cross head G. fed at the same time Then the wires are cut off and bent into staple form and inserted through the tag and the cloth or Otilfil e properly tagged articleis then released by releasing-the lever 1). Thus the tags are nicely fastened to the laundry articles by a machine which works fast and accurately.

T o prevent the feed mechanism from overfeeding, v an arrangement is provided, as shown in Figs. 8 and 9. The cam member M is hung on the head G and provided with a cam recess 7. The pivoted locking dog N- is adapted to engage the teeth of the ratchet feed wheel 70*, at the time that the feed pawl k reaches the downward limit of its operative stroke. This locking dog N has a portion or adapted to engage the teeth of the wheel '2". A spring a keeps the dog N pressed normally against the cam member M. When the head G moves downward, the

pawl 70 actuates the feed mechanism, and

permits the locking dog N to swing outward to the position shown in dotted lines in Fig. 8, thereby locking the feed mechanism against further movement. This, as stated, prevents over-feeding.

I do not limit myself to the exact construction shown and described as that is not my intent, and for the reason that it is obvious that the structure shown and described. and the difierent elementsthereof, can be changed or modified more or less without departing from the real scope and spirit of my invention.

What I claim as my invention is:

1. In a machine of the class disclosed, mechanism for feeding a strip of sheet material, means for driving two parallel staplesthrough the opposite ends of a predetermined length of said material, and means for cutting off the double stapled length of material, by making a cut parallel with said staples, close to the last staple, together with means for supporting the article to which the said material is applied, and means for The wires and strip of cloth are said strip.

2. A laundry tag machine comprising means for feeding a strip of cloth, means for stapling the same to an article, by the insertion of parallel staples, means for cutting off the stapled portion of said material, thereby'leaving the tag fastened to thearticlc by two staples, by making a cut parallel with said staples, close to the last staple, and means for feeding the staple wire transversely of the said strip. r

3. A laundry tag machine comprising means for feeding a strip or ribbon of cloth, means for stapling the said strip at a plurality of points therein, by parallel and properly spaced staples, and means for supporting an article in position for receiving the multiple stapled portions of said strip or ribbon of cloth, together with means for raising the article to be tagged into position to receive the tag, said last mentioned means comprising a pair of clench blocks mounted to slide up and down in unison, and means for lifting the strip to sever the attached tag.

4. Ina machine of the class disclosed, a plurality of staplers arranged in a row, means for feeding sheet material in the direction of said row, and in position to receive the staples from said staplers, means for feeding wire to the said staplers, the

wires extending p'arallel'and at right angles to the direction of feed of the sheet material, whereby the staples are parallel, means for supporting an article in position to receive the staples, and means for cutting off the stapled portion of the said material, close to the last staple, said staples having staple formers disposed in planes extending transversely of the direction of feed of said material.

5. In a machine of the class disclosed, a

vertically movable support for the article to be operated upon, adapted to slide up and down on a straight line, a lever for operatmg said support, said lever and support having a shifting connection, a vertically disposed rod, and a cam on said rod for operating said lever.

6. In a machine of the class disclosed, a mechanism for feeding sheet material, means for feeding wire crosswise of said material, a stapler for receiving said wire, and a sigle ratchet mechanism for simultaneously operating-both of said feed mechanisms, actuated by the downward movement of the stapler, said stapler disposed in position to insert a staple through the said sheet material, and cutting mechanism operated by the stapler to cut off the tag.

7. In a tag attaching machine of the class disclosed, a stapling mechanism for applying the tag, having a reciprocating head, a

stationary knife, a pivoted lever, an edge on said lever coeperating with said knife,

means for feeding sheet material across the end of said lever and below said knife, to provide a tag for each operation of the ma.- chine, and means including a lost-motion connection depending from said head for rocking said lever to lift the material away from the article to which the tag is attached, and to thereby cause the knife to sever the tag.

8. A laundry tag machine comprising .means for feeding a strip of cloth, means for driving a plurality of staples in the said strip, to secure a predetermined length thereof to an article, and means for cutting off the said length close to the last staple, leaving the same secured to said article by a plurality of staples extending crosswise of the tag, with space between said staples for printing or marking, said space being determined by the length of the tag.

9. In a machine of the class described, a feed mechanism comprising a feed wheel, a pivoted pawl for actuating the same, alocking dog for engaging said Wheel to prevent over-feeding, a pivoted cam for moving said dog into and out of engagement with said wheel, and means for reciprocatingthe pawl and cam in unison, upon which the same are independently pivoted.

10. A tag machine having means for feeding the tape, a ratchet Wheel for operating said means, a stapler for attaching the tag, a pawl for actuating said wheel, pivoted on the movable head of said stapler, a locking dog for said wheel, to prevent over feeding of the tape, and a cam pivoted on said head, shaped to automatically control said dog, the said pawl and cam depending from said head. I

Signed by me at St. Joseph, Michigan, this 13th day of November, 1909.

EDWARD CRAIG.

Witnesses: v

D. F. ScHoENBEoK, ELLSWORTH LAKE. 

